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04 April 2016

Hello.....it's me......

I was wondering if after all this time I might still remember how to blog....

I guess we'll just have to see how I get on then won't we?!

So a quarter of the year has been and gone and with it very many adventures. Part of me is a bit upset that I've neglected this space for such a long time but the other part of me is relaxed knowing that instead of trying so damn hard to record every little one of life's moments we've just been living the moments instead - a little more footloose and carefree.

And it was a full-on and exciting start to the year with Grandma and Granddad here from the UK staying with us for six weeks and we did in true MNM's style fit in a huge amount during their time here. Highlights such as:

Watching Noah compete at his Weetbix Tryathlon at Waikato University. Spurred on by having both sets of grandparents watching he swam, biked and ran his little heart out right to the finish line - it was a joy to see. We did so much better than last year when we missed him crossing the finish line and had to find him in the lost child tent....oops!

He was chuffed to bits to have his photo taken with Valerie Adams (our Olympic shotput hero) too!

Whilst Daddy and Noah had to hang around waiting for prizegiving the rest of us skipped off to Punnet for a bite to eat. My raw food Snickers slice was to die for and the coffee wasn't bad either!

There was many a Friday night spent watching the boys play cricket in the Square. Out of the whole two term season (term 4 last year and term 1 this year) we only had one game cancelled for rain (back in November). It's been such a wonderful end to the week heading down to the Square with $5 pizzas for the boys, some healthier takeaways for us and a few cold beverages to relax for 1.5 hours while the kids get into their bowling and batting.

On one Friday night we even had Nana and Poppa and our good friends Shannon and Guy who've recently moved up from Wellington along for the evening.

We also enjoyed getting to know a few of the people in the neighbourhood at a street BBQ where Grandma and Granddad were whisked off into the sunset on a touring bike - what fun!

I also had an unexpected treat when this lovely lady (Leonie from Sunshine x3) came to visit with her family one afternoon while on their whistle stop tour of NZ - they moved over to Birmingham from NZ a year ago and I have loved following all their UK adventures online and Leonie was also super helpful and supportive when we did our big move last year. All our kids all got on like they'd known each other for years despite the fact they'd never met before and they spent a great deal of time in the pool as it was a hot hot February afternoon! Apologies for the blurry pic - that's what you get when you let a 9 year old loose on camera duties!

We also celebrated 12 years of marriage with our first meal out together just the two of us in Cambridge since we moved here(!!) at Alpha Street Kitchen - and we scrubbed up OK for a night out I think!

This was followed by a lovely day out on our actual anniversary day at Woodlands Historic Estate finding go-carts to keep the boys entertained while we waited for our meals and then a walk around the estate followed to walk off said meal!

This cool calendar was an anniversary/housewarming present from Grandma and Granddad and Mylo has been particularly diligent at changing the date every day since!

We also got a rare family photo in the garden at Woodlands Estate too - we have to seize the moment when the opportunities present themselves these days!

After 12 years of marriage there's notably less romantic gestures and more humour in our anniversary cards too - ha ha!

The same weekend we also took a trip to the Hamilton Gardens to show Grandma and Granddad all the changes and upgrades since the last time they were here - in particular we wanted to show off the Montacute House gate house lookalike and Tudor garden - it's utterly crazy that Grandma and Granddad live right in the next village to the real thing back in England!

It was also an opportunity for me to try out my new toy - I finally splurged on a decent point and shoot - much as I love my big camera and it does take AMAZING photos - the size and weight of carrying the big backpack and all my lenses around means that I'm loathe to take it out on family outings - whereas the new little Canon G7X still takes amazing shots AND fits in my pocket - win win! And the photos below in the Gardens were my first chance to give it a whirl...

The new camera has a pretty cool selfie function too as we found out!

Grandma and Granddad posing with the Montacute House look-alike gate house

And then there was the crazy cool trip around the Coromandel we all had for a week but that'll just have to keep for another post or three......

So hello.....it's me....back on board and I'm hoping for slightly less lengthy gaps between regular transmission!